Skinny Rowland was a gentle man gifted with a sense of humor the size of a rain barrel.Though in ill health most of the years he performed, he managed to touch the hearts and funnybones of audiences all across the Western states. He was in great demand as a storyteller, cowboy poet, and as a stand-up comedian who excelled in making the most of one-liners.
Skinny was an amazing man, from a medical standpoint. He fought off the
devestating effects of Lou Gerigs Disease for some 15 years, far past the national average.
He died in Arizona in early 1997.
He was, literally, skinny as a hoe handle. His disease made him so. And he made it up and
down stairs only with the greatest of effort. Still, he was not a man to complain about his
lot. He was too busy making people happy.
In 1995, Skinny and I both performed at a cowboy poetry gathering at Bowie,
Texas. It was nearly 100 degrees, with a high humidity, and even the locals were sweating
like a truck driver at a revival. After the show, I stopped by the local Dairy Queen to get a
drink before I saddled up for the hot ride home. There was Skinny, sitting in a corner,
trying to cool down. He had driven his small RV all the way from Montana and was
having a tough time with the Texas heat. So I invited him to stop by our place on his way
home, and he said he might just do that.
The next morning we awoke to find his RV parked in front of our house. He had
spent the night there, rather than waking us. He wound up spending two days and two
nights with us--inside our house, I might add--and we still cherish the memory of the time
we shared with him. He kept us in stitches the whole time. It wasn't an act; it was just
Skinny.
Skinny Rowland was a person who could take fairly tame, sometimes medeocre
material, and by his physical presence and power of his personality milk it for all it was
worth. He was respected, admired and loved by people all over this country. And it can
certainly be said of him that those who knew him best loved him most.
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"THE IDEAL WOMAN" - Poem of how, after wandering for years in search of a good woman, he chanced upon the perfect mate back in the hills.
"ALL BENEATH THAT SKY" - Ode to the majestic "Big Sky" country of Montana.
"WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS" - Tells how the snow-covered mountains of Montana can furnish a fella with a good education.
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"STACKIN' IT HIGH" - Skinny often did monologs of one-liners, and he saw the written versions published in several magazines each month. This one is from the Nov.-Dec., 1992 issue of Rope Burns magazine.